Green light for Sydney desalination trials

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Small desalination trials will take place next year before a
full-scale plant is constructed on Sydney's Kurnell Peninsula.

The NSW Government today said the final two tenderers for the $2
billion plant's construction would run small pilot desalination
plants for at least six months to test and finetune their
technologies.

Utilities Minister Carl Scully - who as Roads Minister
negotiated the contract for the controversial, privately run Cross
City Tunnel - said all contracts relating to the desalination plant
would be made public in accordance with Government rules.

"I anticipate a transparent process that will involve the
release of documents at some point in time," Mr Scully said.

Sydney Water will pay for the infrastructure for the pilot
plants, including an underground pipeline located 400 metres off
the coast of Kurnell.

Three consortia are on a short list to build the desalination
plant, which will supply up to 500 megalitres of drinking water per
day - enough to fill about 500 Olympic swimming pools.

The State Government is yet to decide if the plant will be
publicly or privately financed.

Sydney Water chief David Evans said the trial plants, to be
located at Kurnell, would each be about the size of a shipping
container and capable of treating about 250,000 litres of sea water
a day.

Salt water processed in the plants by reverse osmosis will
become safe for human consumption but will not go into the general
water supply.

Mr Evans said the trials would allow the final two consortia
bidding for the contract to finetune their designs for a full-scale
plant by working with the sea water off Kurnell.

"Sea water is sea water but there are different levels of
saltiness in sea water around the world, there are different
temperatures, there are different levels of suspended solids in the
water," Mr Evans told reporters.

Mr Scully said Premier Morris Iemma was determined the
desalination plant would be built even if the drought ended.

"The Premier's made a decision that we will build this come what
may, because if the drought breaks we may have another drought," Mr
Scully told reporters.